


Couvade

by akire_yta



Category: Eureka
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-18
Updated: 2013-08-18
Packaged: 2017-12-23 20:48:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/930940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akire_yta/pseuds/akire_yta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A little ficlet that occurred to me as I watched 'Right as Raynes.' Spoilers for that ep.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Couvade

The office floor of Global stretched out below him, the shadows punctuated by the flickering glow of an occasional screensaver. Nathan sat at his desk, staring blindly into space as his fingers brushed and twisted against each other, a reflection of the twists his thoughts were taking.

The nights’ work, a legacy from his day away from his desk, sat untouched before him. No matter which project he tried to pick up, his mind whirled back to eyes diffusing into blackness and an almost inaudible technological whine falling silent like a sigh.

His hands were moving for the nearest flimsy and the pretence of business before the clink of glass on glass behind him had even fully registered. “What is it,” he demanded in an approximation of his usual brusqueness.

Footsteps tracked around him, and Nathan looked up into Sheriff Carter’s calmly appraising eyes. “After the day we’ve had, I thought you could use a drink.” The whiskey caught the dim recessed lighting and made it glow with an amber warmth as it refracted through glass and liquid. Nodding, he pushed away the work to clear a space on the desk between them as the Sheriff poured two generous fingers into each tumbler.

Raising his own glass in silent toast, Nathan brought it to his lips and felt the warmth turn into a familiar burn as it slid down his throat. Together, they sat in companionable silence, each lost in their own thoughts.

“I remember when Zoe was born,” Carter said quietly at last. “I thought she was the most beautiful thing in the universe. Everyone tells you that…that when you become a parent your whole world changes.” He looked down into his tumbler, tilted it and watched the liquid pile up against the side of the glass. “What they never tell you is that it is also the most terrifying thing in the universe.” He tipped the drink down his throat and reached for the bottle. “Because you know what’s in store for them, and you realize you would give anything to protect them from it.” He refilled both glasses without asking and sat back again, as if his speech had exhausted him.

Stark stared down at his hand wrapped around the glass. The hand that struck the match, both literally and figuratively. He had burned the lab, his work, good contacts at DARPA, just to try and save Callister. It hadn’t been enough, nowhere near. He tossed his drink back in one swallow, and felt it puddle in his stomach like liquid regret.

“When he first turned on, he was like ever other prototype.” Nathan snorted disgustedly as he traced patterns around the lip of the glass. “Nothing special. Even his appearance was a composite of over a hundred different facial types. But then one day, I was running tests, rolling balls through mazes, logic puzzles, no better than what we do to rats.” He licked his suddenly dry lips. “And I look up, and there was this look of _intelligence_ , real intelligence. And he picks the ball up, and drops it in the slot.” He caught Carter’s look of confusion. “Lateral problem solving. Realizing there were options outside the set parameters. Creativity. Those are not characteristics of intelligent machines, Sheriff. Those are characteristics of intelligence.” He reached for the bottle and poured himself another. He’d be feeling this soon, hopefully. “He stopped being an it and became a he.” A memory rose in his mind, and Stark laughed. “He even chose his own name. He showed a preference. He had likes and dislikes. He was…”

“Your son.” He looked up as Jack raised his glass in toast. “To fatherhood.”

Nathan gave a tiny smile as their glasses clinked. “To fatherhood.” Jack sat back and studied Nathan as he took another sip. “What?”

Jack shrugged and averted his eyes. “It’s just, that’s the first time I’ve ever heard you really laugh, and not just snigger at us poor mortals.”

Nathan forced himself to keep a straight face. “They do say that becoming a parent makes you a better person.” Unbidden, the vision of Callister’s eyes going dark flashed across his mind again. “It’s strange, we have a word for when we loose a parent or a partner, but no word for loosing a child.”

Jack looked away, but Nathan could see clearly the way his shoulders hunched, and knew he was seeing Zoe in Callister’s place, propped up against the side of a bus in the cold dark night. “Something’s hurt too much to be put into words, I guess.” Jack’s voice was quiet, tension threading through the words.

Nathan was not a man who ran away from anything, but suddenly he felt that he would give anything to be able to put all this in a box, never to be discussed again. He forced his voice into some semblance of its usual tones. “Thankyou, Sheriff. For your help.”

Their gazes locked, and Nathan saw the other man nod slightly in understanding. “All part of the service,” he drawled as he sat back in his more usual sprawl. “So, does this make us best friends forever or something?”

Nathan raised an eyebrow, grateful for the familiar patterns of baiting and bickering. “If nothing else, it would have the bonus of shock value.”

Jack burst out laughing. “Oh man, just picture Allison’s face!”

The problem was, Stark could, all too easily. He took another sip to cover his grin. Across the table, Jack Carter put his tumbler on the desk and stood up. “I better get going. No doubt I’ll be seeing you.”

He nodded, but did not raise his eyes off his desk. “No doubt.”

A warm, strong hand laid itself unexpectedly on his shoulder for a moment, then was gone. He closed his eyes and didn’t exhale until he heard the lift doors closing.

The notes from a dozen projects were still strewn across his desk when he looked down again. He knew he should attend to them, get things ready for the next day.

Instead, he rose to his feet and headed back to his empty house. Behind him, the lights automatically dimmed.

~#~  



End file.
